Since national parks and national reserves were not sufficiently large to provide the space wildlife and tourism needed to thrive, in 1997 the Kenya Wildlife Service launched the “Parks Beyond Parks” campaign. The idea was: that if the communities who had lived with wildlife for generations set aside their land for conservation, and wildlife, tourists and most of all the landowners stand to benefit.
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The idea seemed audacious at the time. Years later the communities embraced it and made it theirs. Today Kenya’s community conservancies are a success and a conservation model studied around the world.
The win-win mechanism is complex and simple at the same time: tourism brings employment, but also substantial direct financial revenues (through the conservation fee that every visitor pays). The conservancies are managed by the communities themselves, in partnership with the investors in tourism. This formula protects the needs of all parties. These community-run conservation organizations demonstrate the vital connection between communities, conservation and wildlife, a relationship fueled by tourism.
This is why we are proud of being among the founding members of four conservancies in the Masai Mara (Mara Naboisho, Mara North, Lemek and Pardamat) and to be the main partners in two conservancies in the North (Kalama and Sera) that work under the umbrella of Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT).
